A Second Career For Lacrosse Moon

A Second Career For Lacrosse Moon

Former Maryland Runner to Compete in Totally Thoroughbred Show

BALTIMORE, MD., 07/11/15 - Two years removed from a 27-race career on the Mid-Atlantic circuit, Lynn and Michael Horvath’s Lacrosse Moon will return to Pimlico for this weekend’s Totally Thoroughbred Horse Show.

An 8-year-old son of Malibu Moon, Lacrosse Moon made his racing debut at Pimlico on the Preakness Stakes (G1) undercard in 2010, finishing third in a maiden special weight. Although the gelding registered just one victory in three years on the racetrack, a game nose score in a $50,000 maiden claiming event at Timonium in 2011, he has already equaled that win total in his new career as a show horse. Lacrosse Moon took home a blue ribbon in his very first horse show when competing at the Heavenly Waters Park-Equestrian Center in Bel Air, MD, on May 30.

“We finally made a show, and he entered three little events. One was walk-trot, one was walk-trot-canter, and one was two-foot jumping,” Michael Horvath said. “In walk-trot, he finished third, and we were thrilled. We just thought that was the biggest thing ever. We were just there to give him experience, and he got his experience, and we were happy. But in the next event, walk-trot-canter, he placed first. He got a blue ribbon, and we hardly knew what to do. We were so excited!”

Megan Maener of Jarrettsville’s Celtic Farm was the gelding’s guiding pilot that day. She will be in the irons again Saturday; Lacrosse Moon is set to compete in the Novice Hunter division.

The Horvaths have owned Lacrosse Moon since he was an unraced 2-year-old; they joined a partnership to purchase him in September of 2009. When the gelding was offered at the Fasig-Tipton Timonium Sale in December of 2011, the Horvaths bought him and became the horse’s sole owners. The couple continued to race Lacrosse Moon, but the Kentucky-bred came up lame before a scheduled start at Pimlico in April of 2013; x-rays revealed the horse had a chip in his knee, and surgery was necessary.

Lacrosse Moon’s new career has inspired Lynn Horvath to take up riding lessons. She rides twice a week and hopes to participate in a show by the end of the year or early next year.

“My wife just developed a bond with [Lacrosse Moon], and she wanted to make sure nothing ever happened to him,” Horvath said. “I really think [Lacrosse Moon] wants to please her most of all, and he’s doing a good job of it. He just loves her.”

The Totally Thoroughbred Horse Show features competition classes for horses that show under their registered Jockey Club name. The show will offer prize money totaling more than $17,000, recognizing and rewarding Thoroughbreds that are successfully retrained for second careers. The horse show will also benefit Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue and the Foxie G Foundation.

“He’s been training really well. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be going [to this show],” Horvath said. “We don’t have any expectations. We’re looking at it as an experience. Anything else would be a plus. Just being there and being part of the event is a thrill.”